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FISHRGAME
_____________
Feature
Stories -
082005-09
/ Week tviNews
Convergence
TOP STORIES CONVERGING INTO THE - Week of
February
- 20-25
• • Week in
Review
•
• State Is Investigating Two Title
Insurers
• • Wachovia Halts arbitrage trading
program Program Under Probe
• • JUDGE
RULES IN FAVOR OF WOMAN IN A $6M LANDMARK TOXIC
MOLD
CASE,
• •
State Is Investigating Title Insurance
Companies
• •
State Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi
said he was investigating "Title Insurers, First
American Title, Fidelity National Financial Inc.
and LandAmerica Financial Group Inc. -- as part of
a probe into alleged self-serving, "Title
Falsification" -- and "Kickbacks" paid to builders,
lenders and Realtors in exchange for client
referrals.
• • Garamendi said Fidelity
National Financial Inc. and LandAmerica Financial
Group Inc. had been involved in complex
arrangements that amounted to paying bribes for
referrals while jacking up the cost of title
insurance for home buyers. He issued subpoenas
ordering the companies to produce documents and
their executives to appear at a public hearing in
April.
• • People close to the
investigation say that not only have home buyers
have been overcharged in the hundreds of millions
of dollars in title insurance premiums, but after
forclosures, some of the executives of the Title
Companies, end up owning and controling choice
properties. State and federal law prohibits title
companies from covering up recorded deeds and other
documents of ownership from final title reports, or
by others involved in real estate transactions, and
the use of "kickbacks", or the paying of incentives
or referral fees, or making "preditory loans", to
generate business.
• • LandAmerica said it would
cease the reinsurance arrangements that prompted
the probe, but said the statements made by
Garamendi, were "untrue and misleading."
• •
102Amazon's
Movie Data Base, Creates Local Movie Ticket
Sales
• •
February 24, 2005 / Movie Data Base pioneer,
Amazon.com has been linking the computer screen to
the silver screen for years, say people at Amazon.
"Now it's time to make a little money in the
process, so . . . both Internet giants, Amazon and
Google commenced ventures this week, directing Web
surfers into movie
theaters.
• • Amazon.com Inc. and Google
Inc.'s Internet Movie Database separately said they
would start selling movie tickets through their
respective websites. That would accelerate the
trend of transforming familiar websites into
full-featured online services that allow people to
search the Internet, buy stuff, plot a trip or plan
a night out.
• • Online sales are a small
portion of overall box-office receipts, which
tracking firm Exhibitor Relations Co. said hit a
record $9.4 billion last year. The online market is
stunted, analysts said, because Internet ticketing
services strike exclusive deals with cinema owners,
forcing consumers to hopscotch across the Web to
find tickets for their neighborhood
multiplex.
• • In fact, Internet Movie
Database partnered with Fandango Inc. and Google
with Fandango's smaller rival, MovieTickets.com
Inc. -- and neither service sells tickets to
theaters represented by the
other.
• • "Over time, you're going to
have to have some kind of consolidation or joint
marketing agreements," said Larry Gerbrandt, media
and entertainment analyst at Los Angeles-based
AlixPartners. "The whole idea is to make it easier
to buy a ticket, not
harder."
• • With its new service, Mountain
View, Calif.-based Google lets users not only buy
tickets but also search for actors, movie titles or
such general keywords as "great action sequence,"
then returns movie reviews that fit the
bill.
• • Typing "Movie: Tom Hanks on
island talking to volleyball" delivers reviews for
"Cast Away." For films in theaters, Google Movies
also returns local show times and, with a few
clicks, lets surfers use MovieTickets.com to
purchase tickets from such theaters as
AMC.
• • Google said it wouldn't get a
commission from movie ticket sales. Instead, the
company expects to generate more searches for
movie-related terms, which it hopes will in turn
encourage companies to buy more movie-related
ads.
• • As for Amazon, neither its
Internet Movie Database unit nor Fandango would say
whether the company would get a cut of the ticket
sales. But the partnership means that Amazon will
reach customers during more of a film's life; the
online retailer will sell people tickets to see a
movie in theaters, then months later will sell them
the DVD.
• • No one seems to know how much
of the movie box office has been captured by
Web-based sales. The leading companies that report
box-office receipts don't track online sales.
Technology consulting firm Jupiter Research
estimated that consumers spent $560 million on
movie tickets online last year, which would be
about 6% of overall box-office
sales.
• • People tend to go to the Web
to snap up tickets for hot new releases that are
expected to sell out quickly. For example, Fandango
calculated that it sold 13% of all opening-weekend
tickets for "Fahrenheit 9/11" and 8% of all
opening-weekend tickets for "The Lord of the Rings:
The Return of the King."
• • But heading to the movies is
often a last-minute decision, which means consumers
are less likely to use the Web for buying movie
tickets than they are to buy seats for sporting
events or music concerts, Jupiter Research analyst
David Card said.
• • And the industry is stunting
its own growth by making big players choose sides,
he said. For example, Yahoo Inc. uses Fandango and
sells tickets to its stable of theaters, while
America Online Inc.'s Moviefone uses
MovieTickets.com and its
theaters.
• • "There's no question it's got
to be inhibited by the fact that you have to go to
three places to be able to buy tickets for every
theater in your neighborhood," Card
said.
• • ///
•
• Wachovia Halts arbitrage trading program
Program Under Probe
• •
Brokerage Wachovia Securities said that it
had permanently stopped a long-running trading
practice at one of its Westlake Village offices
after claims that the program may have violated
securities rules.
• • Wachovia is investigating
certain arbitrage trading at its Westlake Village
office at 4550 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd. in response
to an anonymous letter. The New York Stock Exchange
and the NASD, the brokerage industry's
self-regulatory agency, also are investigating the
letter's allegations, sources said. The NYSE and
the NASD declined to
comment.
• • Richmond, Va.-based Wachovia
said its probe was
continuing.
• • The arbitrage trading program
involves buying shares directly from companies that
offer price discounts on such stock purchases, then
quickly selling the shares in the open
market.
•
• Oil Tops $51 a Barrel, Raising Gas Price
Fears
• •
The price of oil shot past $51 a barrel for
the first time since late October, probably
condemning motorists to another round of gasoline
price increases.
• • The benchmark U.S. grade of
crude oil for March delivery soared $2.80, or 5.8%,
to $51.15 Tuesday on the New York Mercantile
Exchange. It was the commodity's biggest one-day
percentage gain since June.
• • The jump rekindled fears of a
slowdown in U.S. economic
growth.
• • The average price for
self-serve regular in California rose last week for
the fifth straight week, gaining an additional 5.9
cents to $2.15 a gallon, the Energy Department
reported.
• • On Friday, crude oil for April
delivery rose 10 cents to $51.49 a barrel, a
four-month high. For the week, the price rose
5.1%.
•
• JUDGE
RULES IN FAVOR OF WOMAN IN A $6M LANDMARK TOXIC
MOLD CASE
• •
Fraud Ring Taps Into Consumer Credit Data
• •
A fraud ring infiltrated one of the nation's
largest collectors of consumer information and
obtained credit reports, Social Security numbers
and other information about tens of thousands of
people in a massive case of identity theft.
• •
ChoicePoint Inc. said it had begun sending
letters to about 35,000 Californians to tell them
that their personal information might have been
compromised. The Alpharetta, Ga.-based company
urged them to check their credit reports for new
accounts or suspicious activity.
• •
ChoicePoint also said it would warn 110,000
people outside California.
• • A North
Hollywood man was arrested and pleaded no contest
to felony identity theft. Olatunji Oluwatosin, 41,
was sentenced to 16 months in state prison
• •
Viacom Takes Big Hit From Radio Holdings
• •
In a move that reflects the continued
challenges facing the struggling radio business,
Viacom Inc. wrote down the value of its Infinity
Broadcasting division, contributing to the
fifth-largest quarterly loss ever reported by a
U.S. company.
• • The New York media giant,
which also owns CBS, MTV and Paramount Pictures,
posted an $18.4-billion loss after taking an
$18-billion charge against fourth-quarter 2004
earnings.
• • The bulk of the write-down --
$10.9 billion -- was attributable to Viacom's radio
holdings, while the rest was related to its outdoor
advertising business.
• • Leslie Moonves, co-president
of Viacom, said in a conference call with investors
that getting the radio business "back on a growth
path" was a top priority.
•
• Adelphia Cable Stops Carrying Triple-X
Programming
• •
Adelphia Communications Corp., in a quick
about-face, stopped offering customers the
opportunity to purchase so-called triple-X
programming after receiving tens of thousands of
complaints from anti-pornography activists and
expressions of concern in investment circles that
the hard-core fare could complicate the company's
pending sale.
• • Adelphia, which filed for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2002, would not
comment beyond saying in a statement that "some
concern has been expressed over this type of adult
programming. Adelphia will remove it from all of
its systems."
• • The company for some time has
aired single- and double- X-rated programs and will
continue to do so. Adelphia began offering even
raunchier programming from Playboy Enterprises Inc.
this month for the first time in a major market --
Southern California. The plan attracted headlines,
and controversy, across the country.
•
• Millionaires Burkle and Ovitz Sues Over
Websites - Who Pay's?
• •
Los Angeles billionaire Ronald Burkle sued
former Hollywood power broker Michael Ovitz,
claiming that Ovitz reneged on a promise to share
the financial risks in two-ill fated Internet
companies.
• • According to the lawsuit,
filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Ovitz
cost Burkle millions of dollars by leaving him
holding the bag when CheckOut.com and Talk City.com
went sour.
• • Burkle claims in the lawsuit
that he was enticed into pumping $29 million into
CheckOut and $4 million into Talk City. Ovitz, the
suit says, should have shouldered half those
amounts.
• • Ovitz's lawyer, James Ellis,
accused Burkle of going to court out of spite
because of the outcome of another business deal
with Ovitz that is not mentioned in the suit. Ellis
would not provide details.
• • A lawyer for Burkle, Patricia
Glaser, called Ellis' contention
"nonsense."
•
• Mammoth Founder to Sell Controlling
Stake
• •
Dave McCoy, founder of Mammoth Mountain Ski
Area, is putting up for sale his controlling
interest in the Eastern Sierra winter
resort.
• • The news touched off
speculation and uncertainty in the scenic town
about 300 miles north of Los Angeles along U.S.
395.
• • The company employs 3,000
workers and holds leases to 4,000 acres of U.S.
Forest Service-owned land at Mammoth and June
mountains. The resort's properties include a lodge
and more than a dozen stores and dining
venues.
• • "As healthy and engaged as
Dave is, the fact is he is 89 years old and won't
live forever," the company said in a
statement.
• • Financial bankers hired by
McCoy said a "handful" of companies had expressed
interest in the properties, which one analyst
estimated could fetch as much as $200
million.
•
• Wal-Mart Chief Takes His Case to
California
• •
With its California expansion plans stalled,
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. dispatched Chief Executive H.
Lee Scott Jr. to Los Angeles to plead the case for
the world's largest
company.
• • Among his messages: We're not
backing down.
• • Scott acknowledged to 500
business leaders at a Town Hall Los Angeles
luncheon that Wal-Mart had made mistakes in trying
to expand quickly in California, its most important
market for growth. Efforts to build Supercenters --
combination grocery and discount stores -- have
faced hostile city ordinances, strong community
opposition and complaints that they pay too little
and run competitors out of
business.
• • But Scott said Wal-Mart was
undeterred, noting that the company would open 25
stores in California this year, including one in
Los Angeles.
•
• JetBlue Plans to Start Service at
Burbank
• •
JetBlue Airways Corp., the discount airline,
will add coast-to-coast service from Burbank in
late May.
• • In a move that would mean the
first nonstop flights between Burbank and the East
Coast, the carrier intends to launch three daily
nonstops between Bob Hope Airport and New York's
John F. Kennedy International Airport -- JetBlue's
home base -- on May 24. They company has scheduled
a fourth daily flight to start in
July.
• • JetBlue's nonstop flights to
New York, Boston and Washington currently take off
from Long Beach Airport, the carrier's West Coast
hub.
•
• Edison Co. and Sempra Energy's Predict More
Blackouts
• •
Parts of Southern California could endure
blackouts this summer if the region incurs
unusually hot weather, state energy officials said
in a new forecast.
• • In areas served by Edison
International's Southern California Edison Co. and
Sempra Energy's San Diego Gas & Electric Co.,
electricity demand could exceed supply by as much
as 1.5% in periods of peak demand in September,
according to the forecast, released at a special
hearing of the Senate Energy, Utilities and
Communications Committee.
• • The potential for rolling
blackouts like those that swept California in the
energy crisis of 2000-01 could be even greater if
bottlenecks continue to jam overtaxed power
transmission lines, said Jim Detmers, vice
president of the California Independent System
Operator.
///
• •
------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEWS
CONVERGENCE
///
Center
Page / Feature
NEWS CONVERGENCE
Feature
TIMELINE: Top Stories To
Start The Week With:
#108MurdochNet$$DVDSales
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.'s Net Income Soars on
DVD Sales
• • Rupert Murdoch, during a
conference call with investors, News Corp. Chairman
Rupert Murdoch said he expected to reach an
agreement within nine months that would reduce
Liberty Media Corp.'s 18% voting stake to a level
less threatening to his family's control. Murdoch
and his family own about 30% of News
Corp.
• • "We haven't had any
substantial talks yet," Murdoch
said.
• • The company's cable
channels also boost profit despite wider operating
losses at its Fox television
network.
• • Despite the poor
performance of its Fox television network last
fall, News Corp.'s quarterly profit rose 80% on
strong DVD sales and continuing strength of cable
channels such as Fox News Channel.
• • The company reported
Wednesday that its net income rose to $386 million
during its fiscal second quarter, which ended Dec.
31, or 13 cents a share -- up from $215 million, or
8 cents, in the same period a year ago. Revenue was
up 18% to $6.56 billion.
• • The company projected
that operating profit for fiscal 2005 would
increase by as much as 20%, up from a previous
growth forecast that was in the mid- to high
teens.
• • News Corp.'s biggest
weaknesses during the quarter were the Fox
television network and Sky Italia, its Italian
satellite TV service. Operating losses at Sky
Italia rose to $105 million, from $104 million a
year earlier.
• • At the Fox TV network,
operating losses widened by $26 million to $153
million for the quarter, as programming costs
increased, prime-time ratings fell and local
advertising sales at its TV stations were weak.
News Corp. executives blamed the network's
continuing problem on disruption of its fall
prime-time launch caused by its airing of
professional baseball
games.
• • Yet News Corp. President
Peter Chernin predicted that Fox would end the
season in a battle with CBS for first place in the
ratings for young adults because of the continued
dominance of returning shows such as "American
Idol" and "24," and the promise of new programs
such as "House."
• • On a brighter note, News
Corp.'s film division was the quarter's star
performer. Home video sales doubled in the period
to $1.2 billion from a year earlier, giving News
Corp. the highest profit margins in the film
business, at 20%, analysts said.
• • Twentieth Century Fox
Television posted strong DVD sales for "The
Simpsons," "24" and "Family Guy," along with
various library titles.
• • A strong roster of
summer releases, such as "The Day After Tomorrow,"
as well as the DVD sales of catalog and TV titles
and the "Star Wars" trilogy, led to a year-end
payday in home video, Chernin
said.
• • He said the margins
could be sustained because of the studio's "focus
on profitability over market share," and its
success with lower-budget titles such as
"Sideways," which was recently nominated for five
Academy Awards, including best picture.
• • Cable programming also
contributed to News Corp.'s strong quarter.
Operating profit at the unit, which includes the
FX, Fox News and National Geographic channels, rose
46% to $227 million.
• • News Corp. shares rose 5
cents to $17.67 on the New York Stock Exchange.
•
Powell
to Resign as FCC
Chairman /
0505e
• Verizon
Relies OnWireless For
Profits /
0505d
• Is
Google Going Into theWeb Browser Business, ala
Explorer? /
0505b
• Mark
Soval of VRA TelePlay Pictures says the Yahoo Move
to Hollywood is a
must. /
0505c
Copyright
Protection / The U.S. is a party to
international treaties that prohibit copyright
renewal requirements.
• • YES90 / "Let a
Thousand Googles Bloom," LATimes Commentary, Jan 12
2005: Lawrence Lessig may be right that requiring
periodic copyright renewal would make it easier to
determine what works are protected, but he ignores
one major reason we eliminated copyright renewals
in the first
place.
• • The U.S. is a
party to international treaties that prohibit
copyright renewal requirements. We agreed to these
treaties and eliminated our copyright renewal
requirement after suffering many years of uncertain
protection of American works in foreign
countries.
• • At a time when
the export of intellectual property is a
significant portion of our economy, the U.S. needs
to exercise caution before abrogating treaties that
protect the works of its authors.
///
ByLines:
Editors Note
LARRY
PAGE
Bylines
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-----It
just goes to show you, says Troy about the TV and
Film industry -- "NOTHING IN THIS WORLD IS
PERMANENT" . . . so follow the
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take some advice from a dinner-time chat with
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Disappointments Are Great! Follow
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///
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